FICTION

TOO EASY by Bruce Deitrick Price (Simon & Schuster: $21; 256 pp.) On the Brooklyn Bridge. Standing up. In broad daylight. In a taxi cruising Central Park. In a phone booth in Queens. But the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge? As Kathy says, post-coitus, “They ought to put up a plaque.” That they ought; it’s the only thing anyone will ever remember this book for. That and the dithering. . . .

Now, stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Robert falls for Kathy but he’s married to Anne. Kathy persuades Robert to leave Anne. Then they’ll get married. What a plot! Want details? Sure. Robert’s a newspaper editor. Kathy’s in marketing, marketing mostly herself. Anne’s an accountant. She and Robert live in Westchester. Kathy comes from Jersey, which, author, Bruce Deitrick Price implies, explains everything. She is sexy, though, give her that. Robert is “obsessed,” of course. With her body. It has to be her body; she’s got nothing else going for her. Neither does Robert. Nor Anne. Especially nor Anne, one of those women who, when she gets wind of her husband’s affair, blames herself. Has “mousy” hair. They all do. Dithers a lot over what to do. So does Robert, for page after page. Dither, dither, dither. Oh, and somebody gets killed. Either Robert or Anne or callipygian Kathy. Which? You’re kidding. Don’t think for a minute we’re going to spoil this book for you. Still . . . the Brooklyn Bridge?